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Octallio Death Trap
Location: California Date: March 31, 1989 Story On March 31, 1989, sports car racing enthusiast James Kuhns set out with his two dogs, Teddy and Hilary, on a 65 mile drive through the Rocky Mountains to see a race. He was very close to them, as he and his wife, Kitty, didn't have any children. James was also towing a trailer with eight 55 gallon barrels of high octane fuel inside, even though he had no placards on and no permits to be towing such a large amount. As James drove through a canyon, his van was hit by a strong wind blowing at over 85 miles per hour. James lost control of it and it skidded over the side of the mountain, where it rolled down the cliff, dragging the trailer behind it. The trailer broke open and the barrels of fuel rolled down the cliff and landed around the van, which was stuck upside down at the bottom. James's foot was stuck between the engine and the steering column, and he knew he was trapped when he couldn't get free. He was also horrified to discover that Teddy, who'd been sitting on his lap, was dead. He said he felt like any parent would if he or she did something, had a car accident, and lost a child. James heard something moving under the van and called out for Hilary, who crawled out from under the wreckage and went to his side. He was sure they would be rescued soon, but didn't know the wreckage could not be seen from the highway above. As a result, days went by, and no help came. On April 2, two days after the accident, Kitty, who'd been out of town visiting relatives, returned home. She expected to find James and the dogs there, as they were supposed to leave the previous night. When she didn't find them there, she assumed James was talking with his buddies and wouldn't be home until late. "By five o'clock, I knew that something was really wrong," she recalled. She called a friend and asked when James had left, in case he'd gotten held up and left late. The friend said he and the dogs had never arrived, and upon hearing this, she knew they had either been in an accident or he had a heart attack. She called the police immediately. The next morning, the Sheriff's office arrived at the Kuhns' house and Kitty explained to them what had happened. They asked her a lot of questions, and it wasn't until they asked for a description of James that she realized they might just be looking for his body. She called her friend, Karen, and told her to come over, as she didn't want to be alone if she found out James was dead. Both her parents were dead and she had no siblings, so James, Hilary, and Teddy were the only family she had. Police helicopter pilot George Burns searched the rocky stretch of highway along the cliffs, knowing if James crashed over the side, the officers searching by car probably wouldn't be able to see him. As he flew into the canyon, he spotted the van. "When I first saw the van, I was pretty sure that it was an unsurvivable crash," said Burns. He was sure he'd smell James' decaying dead body before he even got close to the van. Burns landed his helicopter, and as he ran towards the van, he caught a whiff of Teddy and thought it was James. He shouted if anyone was inside, and was shocked to hear James cry, "Help!" indicating that he was alive. He told him he was going to get help, and ran back to his helicopter to radio for an emergency crew. The police called Kitty, told her about the accident, and informed her that James was alive, much to her relief. However, they didn't know if the dogs were alive, or the extent of his injuries. A rescue unit arrived, but the paramedics could not reach him inside the van, making them unable to treat him. The spilled fuel made things worse. Volunteer fire chief Pat Brown came to the scene to help with the rescue. "It was a very high octane fuel," he said, "The fumes would burn your eyes out." Because of that, all rescue attempts had to be abandoned because of the high risk of a spark igniting the fuel. EMT Wanda Roth came down to help keep James calm until he was rescued. "I said, 'Nobody light any cigarettes. Don't do anything that might cause a spark,' because I didn't want to get blown up," said Wanda. It was decided that the fuel barrels had to be removed before anyone attempted to extract James from the van, and a construction crew was called in with their crane to accomplish this task. The rescuers could not just start lifting the barrels. They had to remove them in a certain order. "If we move the wrong one, the others could roll down," said Pat. "There's gonna be a big flash. You're gonna have one hell of an explosion." By the time the first barrel was able to be removed, night had fallen. The crew had to set up halogen lights to see what they were doing, which now included making sure no fuel dripped on them. The crane operator was basically working blind, so everyone had to tell him where to move the arm. He almost hit one of the lights while moving the first barrel, but managed to avoid it. As the next barrel was being hoisted up, Kitty arrived at the scene. Although she volunteered countless hours at the hospital, she was shocked to see so many paramedics down in the canyon. "I've always believed what comes around goes around," she said, "And there they were, all those hours, down there coming back to me." After all the barrels were removed, the crane had to be used again to lift the van up enough to free James with the Jaws of Life. It was then that the rescuers found Hilary, who had stayed by James' side the whole time. Finally, after more than 70 hours, he was freed from the wreckage, to the cheers and cries of everyone. James was rushed to the hospital, where his right foot was partially amputated, and he received skin grafts on his abdomen for several burns he suffered from the fuel. However, he survived an accident where many others would have died. He went back to racing a month later, and in spite of Teddy's death, he, Kitty, and Hilary have gone on with their lives. Category:1989 Category:California Category:Motor-Vehicle Accidents